Soldier Ruslan, call sign FATHER TIHON

My name is Ruslan, call sign FATHER TIKHON. I was the commander of an engineer sapper platoon of the Eastern Operational and Territorial Association of the National Guard of Ukraine.

I was defending Ukraine in Donbas since 2014, and on 8 June 2022, I was seriously wounded in the Kharkiv region near the town of Balakliia. While installing engineering barriers, I happened to come under fire from an enemy artillery spotter when I was mining the area. I think I saw this missile as if in a movie, I saw it flying and then there was an explosion. I was thrown back, realised that I had to crawl, took out a knife, and clinging to the knife, I crawled to my fellow soldiers...

Only in the hospital ward did I find out that my left leg was completely amputated. I remember the doctor saying: "We cut off a little bit of your leg here". I wasn't really worried about the leg; I was more worried about how my wife would react when she found out about the amputation. However, she stood up to all the challenges.
 

Now I am undergoing rehabilitation and prosthetics in the Lviv region. In order to be mobile and move freely, I need a functional hip prosthesis, the cost of which is higher than the state program covers.

I have been serving my whole life, and if it wasn't for the war, I would have retired on 10 February this year. I am convinced that my injury will not allow me to return to service, and after prosthetics I will be "written off". My friends offer me to teach sapper and mine action at the National Guard Academy. However, I have not yet managed to change my mindset. 

How can someone without a leg teach demining?

Do I have to explain to every cadet that I did not get blown up by a mine? A teacher having no leg training a sapper? I can't do it!!! I would never have exploded on a single mine in my life!

Perhaps, in time, I will agree to teach.
 

Whereas now I dream of Victory. I dream of my daughter giving birth to my grandchildren, and me walking with them on my both feet on our land where there are no russian brats. I dream of lifting my grandchildren above my own head so that they can better see the beauty of their homeland.